SAVOURING THE MOMENT
Food trucks having better summer
Montreal’s relatively young food truck scene has had its issues, but is growing up, says the co-founder of Quebec’s food truck association.
“There is always room for improvement, of course,” said Gaëlle Cerf of the Association des restaurateurs de rue du Québec, “but the industry is doing well. The trucks are becoming adults.”
The people behind the trucks “are more organized. They are making better decisions; they are getting more and more private gigs — and that is a big part of the income of the trucks,” said the coowner of the Grumman 78 taco truck, the you-can’t-miss-it acid green truck. “Say a software company wants to throw a party for 100 people for noon on Aug. 8 — and the truck goes there. It’s prepaid. You know how many people you are going to serve.”
After a 66-year prohibition, the sale of street food in Montreal began again with a pilot project in 2013. In 2015, a bylaw governing street food was adopted by city council. Food trucks must go through a selection process and its operators follow rules to have permits issued by the city, which manages the allocation of sites and oversees the quality of the food.
Up to 50 food trucks turn up for the First Fridays event at the Olympic Stadium each month between May and October — city permits are not required for such events — and it can draw more than 20,000 visitors, evidence that food trucks have their place.
But in her 2017 report tabled in June, Montreal auditor general Michèle Galipeau observed that, based on results of the 2017 street food season, “we find that the activity is on the wane.”
“If the intention of the administration is to maintain or increase the presence of street food trucks in the public domain, a reassessment of the operating procedures and the selection process should be undertaken,” she wrote.
Three of the six boroughs that had food trucks on their territory in 2017 withdrew for the 2018 season
because of a lack of traffic. And 20 permits for food trucks were issued for the 2018 season, down from 26 in 2017. No requests were turned down.
“In 2017, business was not great,” Cerf acknowledged.
One issue was bad weather. “On rainy days you do worse,” she said.
“But this year, we are having a beautiful summer — and that has an impact on the trucks. People are doing great. At Grummans, we have never had this many calls to book the truck.”
Another issue in 2017 was the sites themselves: They weren’t busy enough and truck owners were discouraged, Cerf said. As a result of talks with the city, this year’s are better. Busy new spots include Dorchester Square, Metcalfe St. north of René Lévesque Blvd., and the Quartier des spectacles spot, on St-Laurent Blvd. near Ste-Catherine St.
Although the association suggests spots to the city, “it seems we cannot get the super-busy spots,” Cerf said. “The truck needs to be where there is heavy foot traffic. Look at New York City.”
Trucks can park only in specific areas and are not permitted within 50 metres of restaurants. “The restaurant lobby is very strong,” said Cerf. “But I don’t think we steal business from restaurants: Our competition is indoor food courts.”
It would be a boon for food trucks to be part of the revitalized Ste-Catherine St. project, Cerf said. But that possibility is not under consideration, said Robert Beaudry, member of the city’s executive committee responsible for economic and commercial development and government relationship, on Tuesday.
Cerf said her association wants food trucks to have access to such spaces as parks or vacant lots. “We could use them as pop-ups,” she said. In Austin, Texas, which has a thriving food-truck scene, food trucks rent space on vacant lots. Beaudry said he is open to the possibility of some off-street venues being used for special events, but not regularly or permanently.
He has met three times with Cerf’s association and spoken with several operators — and said that some modifications have already been made to make things easier for food trucks. Food truck operators who have already gone through the city’s selection committee and received permits no longer need to do so again when re-applying, for instance. And the interval between trucks being able to return to the same site has been reduced to seven days from 14.
This being the first food truck season for the Projet Montréal administration, Beaudry said he will continue to take stock of the food truck scene and meet with the association again once the season ends.
This year, we are having a beautiful summer — and that hasan impact on the trucks. People are doing great.